CONNECTICUT Woodlands VICTORY GARDENS REVISITED • Everyone can farm The Magazine of the Connecticut Forest & Park Association Summer 2009 Volume 74 No. 2 CONNECTICUT Woodlands The Magazine of the Connecticut Forest & Park Association The Connecticut Forest & Park Association, Inc. Officers PRESIDENT, David Platt, Higganum VICE-PRESIDENT, Jean Crum Jones, Shelton VICE-PRESIDENT, Eric Lukingbeal, Granby VICE-PRESIDENT, David Sullivan, Haddam TREASURER, Gordon L. Anderson, Glastonbury SECRETARY, Eric Hammerling, West Hartford FORESTER, Dan Donahue Directors Mark Ashton, New Haven Richard A. Bauerfeld, Branford William Breck, Killingworth Bob Lorenz Russell L. Brenneman, Westport Shoreline Soup Kitchen volunteer gardeners harvest spinach. See page 11. George M. Camp, Middletown Starling W. Childs, Norfolk Ruth Cutler, Ashford Laurence Diamond, Coventry James Dombrauskas, New Hartford Caroline Driscoll, New London Astrid T. Hanzalek, Suffield Connecting People to the Land Annual Membership David Leff, Collinsville Individual $ 35 Scott Livingston, Bolton The Connecticut Forest & Park Association Geoffrey Meissner, Southington Family $ 50 protects forests, parks, walking trails and open Karen Mignone, Fairfield Supporting $ 100 spaces for future generations by connecting Bob Morrison, Manchester Benefactor $ 250 James Ritchie, Sandy Hook people to the land. CFPA directly involves Starr Sayres, East Haddam individuals and families, educators, community Donald L. Snook, Westport Life Membership $ 2500 leaders and volunteers to enhance and defend Deborah Spalding, Guilford Colin Tait, Norfolk Connecticut’s rich natural heritage. CFPA is a Corporate Membership Richard Whitehouse, Glastonbury private, non-profit organization that relies on Club $ 50 members and supporters to carry out its mission. Honorary Directors Nonprofit $ 75 Harrol W. Baker, Jr., Bolton We envision Connecticut as a place of scenic Sustaining $ 100 Richard F. Blake, Milford beauty whose cities, suburbs, and villages are Landmark $ 250 Clyde S. Brooks, Gibsonia, PA Ann M. Cuddy, Lakeville linked by a network of parks, forests, and trails Stewardship $ 500 Samuel G. Dodd, North Andover, MA easily accessible for all people to challenge the Leadership $1000 John E. Hibbard, Hebron body and refresh the spirit. We picture a state Philip H. Jones, Jr., Shelton where clean water, timber, farm fresh foods and Edward A. Richardson, Glastonbury L.P.Sperry, Jr., Middlebury other products of the land make a significant Sally L. Taylor, Mystic contribution to our economic and cultural Henry H. Townshend, New Haven well-being. Staff Executive Director, Eric Hammerling, West Hartford Connecticut Woodlands Director of Development, James W. Little, Hebron Published quarterly by the Printed on recycled paper Office Manager, Teresa Peters, Durham Connecticut Forest & Park Association, Financial Management Assistant, Linda Cunningham, Portland Land Conservation Director, Damon Hearne, Higganum 16 Meriden Road, Education Director, Lori Paradis Brant, Beacon Falls Rockfall, CT 06481-2961. WalkCT Director, Leslie Lewis, Lyme Indexed in the Connecticut Periodical Index, WalkCT Communications Coordinator, Jennifer Benner, Roxbury ISSN 00106257. Forester & Program Director,Goodwin Forest Center,Steve Broderick, Eastford Telephone: 860-346-2372. EDITOR, Christine Woodside Fax: 860-347-7463. GRAPHIC DESIGNER, Karen Ward E-mail address: [email protected] World Wide Web site: http://www.ctwoodlands.org 2 CONNECTICUT WOODLANDS Summer 2009 CONNECTICUT Woodlands The Magazine of the Connecticut Forest & Park Association Summer 2009 Volume 74 Number 2 Contents FEATURES DEPARTMENTS 6 Connecticut’s Organic Farmers. From 4 President’s Message. Big doings in a (relatively) Dewy-Eyed Beginners to Grizzled Lifers. small organization. By David Platt. The membership of the state chapter of the Northeast Organic Farming Associa- tion includes a diverse group of full-time 5 Executive Director’s Message. How gardening and part-time growers. Meet some of resembles strategic planning. them here. By Penelope Overton. By Eric Hammerling. My farming ancestors, my father’s 11 Community Gardening Thrives. Tales from 4 Editor’s Note. the field. By Christine Woodside. attempt at tomatoes, and my first lousy garden. By Christine Woodside. 12 His Father’s Voice Echoes: Time to Grow Food. “If he had lived long enough, he 18 Try This Hike. Hancock Brook Trail, Waterbury. would have gotten a kick out of seeing By Stephen Wood. me come around to this planting.” By Lee May. 20 Essential Facts of Life. Growing young gardeners. By Lori Paradis Brant. 14 Move Over, Kentucky Bluegrass. The veggies are back in Washington. Strawberry love. Delicate fruits By Jennifer Benner. 22 From the Land. that keep a farmer humble. By Jean Crum Jones. George Purtill, the accountant turned 16 A Career in Trees. An illustrated tribute to lawyer and farmer who owns and oper- the late David Smith, the influential ates Old Maids Farm in Glastonbury, is forester who left a legacy in Connecticut. 23 From the Archives. The handshake. checking the condition of the turkey and Connecticut hiking trails exist through chicken eggs incubating. Two turkeys landowners’ generosity. By James W. Little. have hatched within the last few hours. Penelope Overton 24 Book Reviews. Digging deep into a journey with David Leff. By Robert M. Ricard. 25 WalkCT. A fruitful walk. Walking without realizing it’s exercise. By Jennifer Benner. 26 On the Trails. New England National Scenic Trail is official. 27 Environmental News Briefs. Headlines from around the state. On the Cover: Homegrown vegetables, fresh from the garden of Jennifer Benner. Photo by Jennifer Benner. Summer 2009 CONNECTICUT WOODLANDS 3 PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE BIG DOINGS IN A (RELATIVELY) SMALL ORGANIZATION BY DAVID PLATT or a relatively small organization in one of the smaller The economy. Not surprisingly, CFPA has responded to the states in the union, the Connecticut Forest & Park financial downturn by reducing our expenses and restructuring FAssociation had no shortage of significant events this our organization. year. Membership. Historically, this has been a quiet association that tended to operate in the background to accomplish big MMM Trail. As most are aware by now, in late March, Pres- ident Obama signed into law a bill establishing the Metacomet- things. As a result, we have fewer members than we would like. Monadnock-Mattebesett trails in Connecticut and Massachu- This is changing. We are working to raise our public profile in setts as the New England National Scenic Trail. The CFPA, the conservation community by publicizing our programs. We are putting more signs on the more than 800 miles of Blue- which maintains the route of these trails in this state, supported CFPA President Blazed Hiking Trails to make sure hikers are aware that CFPA’s this designation, which gives these trails visibility. Now we are David Platt busy extending the MMM Trail south to Long Island Sound volunteers established and maintain these trails. We are spon- and figuring out ways to work with willing trail-host landowners to pro- soring more events for our members and the general public tect the lands that host the trail. (including the bigger and better Trails Day weekend that offered more than 130 hikes June 6 and 7—the nation’s largest) and we have launched Strategic planning. Many organizations treat this as a necessary evil. At our CFPA News & Notes newsletter that, together with Connecticut CFPA, we recently embraced it, adopting a new plan and renewing Woodlands, provides us with another way to reach our members with energy and commitment among our board and staff. (See Eric Hammer- timely information about CFPA programs and activities. We are getting ling’s message for more.) bolder at asking loyal members to introduce others to the Association. WalkCT. WalkCT is our newest initiative to get people out on trails of Stop by our headquarters in Middlefield, come to one of our member all kinds across Connecticut, promoting active lives and keener apprecia- events, or drop us a line and let us know how we are doing. We want to tion of the outdoors. See the new WalkCT Web site at www.walkct.org. hear from you. EDITOR’S NOTE MY FARMING ANCESTORS, MY FATHER’S ATTEMPT AT TOMATOES, AND MY FIRST LOUSY GARDEN BY CHRISTINE WOODSIDE ing with delight. That was the sum total of my gardening training when I encountered the Philadelphia gardeners, who told me that if they left it ne of the stupidest articles I ever wrote came slipping out a unlocked, the garden was not going to be safe from loiterers, litterers, or few decades back, when a community group in Philadelphia perhaps the homeless. They were charitable enough, but they knew that Oplanted a vegetable garden and invited the press to the seed to grow food, you must be practical, while I was on my high horse. planting. I was a 23-year-old associate editor of a city weekly. At the seed But the farming gene revealed itself several years later, when I found planting, community activists handed me a trowel, and I reluctantly knelt myself living on a school campus in Westbrook, Connecticut, on the down in my pointy flats and blue-jean skirt in the newly turned soil. My ground floor of an old house with wraparound porch and back and side heart was not in it because I was then so principled that I had something yards. I planted my first garden with our then-2-year-old, Elizabeth, and on my mind separate from the vegetables. The fence around the large I never missed a year gardening after that. I have learned that no matter garden irritated me. It did more. It led me to proclaim in print that a where you grow food, protecting it from harm—whether litter, deer, community garden hidden by a fence was wrong. moles, dogs, or your friend’s feet—must come first. In a column I wrote on the Philadelphia community gardening move- What I had failed to see in Philadelphia was that setting up a garden is ment that appeared the next week, I clung to my notion that everyone enormously difficult.